Knit Picks Yarn Subscription Box Review – January 2019

This post may contain referral/affiliate links. If you buy something, MSA may earn a commission. Read the full disclosure.

Knit Picks is an online yarn and knitting supply company that specializes in providing high-quality materials at a reasonable price. They recently launched a line of monthly subscription boxes featuring their products!

The options for boxes are as follows:

Skill Builder: $48.00 per month, for yarn, knitting needles, instructional materials, and other knitting supplies. This box focuses on teaching you something new each month!

About Knit Picks

The Cost: $48.00 per month (other plans available starting from $27.00, and save with longer subscription plans)

The Products: a surprise assortment of yarn, patterns, knitting needles and tools, and fun extras

Ships to: the US and worldwide

Knit Picks Fan Favorites January 2019 Review

Knit Picks is a fantastic online store for knitters and crocheters, and it’s always been one of my favorite places to shop for yarn and tools! They recently launched a line of subscription boxes that feature different products, and I was very excited to try my first one this month.

The box included a description card showing the contents of the January 2019 Fan Favorites box. I love their reasoning behind the curation of the box – January is definitely a month when you want cozy accessories!

There was a second card in the box that goes into more details on each of the different boxes available. MSA plans to review a different box type from Knit Picks each month, and we are leaving the choice up to you! Please let us know in the comments below which box type you’d like to see reviewed for February!

This month’s box included three skeins of the Swish Bulky yarn, and it’s so gorgeous! The color is a deep jewel-toned purple, and this yarn is so incredibly soft and squishy. It feels very luxurious, and I love that it’s very affordable.

The yarn is 100% superwash merino, and each skein is 137 yards – so we have a total of 411 yards for a project in this box. See below for my project using this yarn and more of my thoughts on it.

The pattern included in the box is printed out in booklet form on thick paper, which I really appreciate. The pattern is perfectly suited to the bulky-weight yarn we received and is a great beginner-level project. It should be a quick project to knit up, especially since you hold the yarn doubled throughout.

This is the highlight of the box for me! As someone who primarily knits with interchangeable knitting needles, this case is something that is very useful to have. The case is 6 inches by 8 inches and features a cute watermelon print embossed on pink vinyl. If pink isn’t your thing, they have tons of other colors and patterns to choose from.

The case zips open completely to lay flat and features an inside flap that holds 20 pairs of needle tips (10 per side). There are also two zipper pouches inside each of the covers to hold your different cord lengths and other accessories.

I couldn’t wait to re-home my interchangeable sets into this cute case! I have one set from Knit Picks and one set from Chicago, and they both fit comfortably in the pockets. Most interchangeable sets have a key that helps you tighten the tips onto the cables, and I find that I am always looking for a key when I’m assembling my needle for a new project – I’m always losing them! If this happens to you as well, my tip is to attach one of the keys to the inside of the case using a piece of scrap yarn and a safety pin (you can also do this on the inside of your knitting bag!).

How cute is this water bottle? I fully identify with this statement, as I knit and crochet during most of my free time! According to a quick web search, knitting burns about 100 calories per hour, so it’s better than nothing, right? The water bottle is BPA-free plastic and is made in the US. It’s a great size to tuck into your knitting bag and take on the go!

When I opened the box and saw this yarn, I immediately thought of making a large, squishy scarf that I could wrap around myself. I liked the simplicity of the basketweave snood pattern that came with the box, but I wanted something that had a looser texture and a longer length. I used the advanced search feature on Ravelry and came up with the Escarpment Cowl by Kelly McClure. It’s exactly what I had in my head when I saw this yarn, and it’s a free pattern found on her blog here! I think that the Knit Picks Swish Bulky yarn is absolutely perfect for this pattern, and it’s knitting up to be such a cozy and wonderful scarf. The stitch pattern looks like brioche stitch (which can be a more complex stitch pattern), but it’s actually a variant of Fisherman’s Rib, and it’s very straightforward and easy to learn. If you can do a simple knit stitch, you can make this scarf!

Verdict:I absolutely loved my first month getting a Knit Picks subscription box! I thought the curation of the box was truly on-point for January. I appreciated the themes of coziness (bulky yarn), organization (needle case), and healthiness (water bottle) – they fit in with things everyone is thinking about with the start of the new year. The products are of great quality and are all items that I will get a lot of use out of.

For $48.00, we received three skeins of yarn, a knitting pattern, a needle case, and a water bottle, with a total retail value of $59.94. Knit Picks advertises the boxes as having a $60 value, so this is spot on with what they promise. If you know you are a fan of Knit Picks products, or you want to try new yarn and knitting items at a great discounted price, I think this box has a great value!

To Wrap Up:

Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Yes – if you sign up before February 15th, you will get the January 2019 box.

Value Breakdown: At $48.00, here’s approximately what you are paying for each item:

What box should we review next month? Leave a comment below on which box you would like to see reviewed next month: the Skill Builder box, the Sock Yarn box, the Crochet Lovers box, or the Sock Labs box! Thank you!

How do subscribers rate Knit Picks?

1 subscriber rated this subscription

Krista entered the subscription box world through beauty boxes and quickly became hooked on boxes! She loves knitting, crocheting, all things crafty, and her cat! Her favorite boxes are KnitCrate, Allure Beauty Box, and FabFitFun.

I’m so glad you reviewed this box! It’s been a couple years since I last picked up my needles, but all of these yarn reviews lately are making me think of getting back into it. If my danger duo of cats lets me, of course. 🙂

My vote would be for the Skill Builder box. I’m curious how they explain techniques.

Thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad you are enjoying the yarn box reviews 🙂 I have two kitties at home too, and its a struggle to keep the yarn away from them sometimes! Even so, I hope you do take up knitting again! It’s such a relaxing hobby!

I love Knit Picks and get most of my yarn from them, but I really feel like these boxes are mostly for newer knitters. As an experienced knitter who already has all my favorite supplies, I just don’t see the value. For a new knitter, I think these would also make great gift boxes.

i agree with you – at this stage in my knitting game, i would rather choose my own yarn. i can see the benefit in having a pattern and yarn matched up for you in the proper amount though – something i definitely struggled with as a beginning knitter!

I agree with you. I would need a MUCH higher price to value ratio to do something like this.
There are so many free patterns, I’m not sure such a basic pattern has any value, and some value is lost on not getting to choose things that are your preference.

I haven’t tried KnitPicks yarn yet, but this has inspired me to order in the near future! Love that they’ve jumped on the subscription addiction; their marketing is adorable. I’d like to see the Sock Yarn box reviewed. The only thing I didn’t like about this particular box is the needle case; I don’t have an interchangeable set, and I’m not sure it would work quite so well for circular needles instead. What do you think, Krista?

Thank you for the comment and the vote, Claire! I agree, the marketing and curation of their boxes are great. I do hope you try their yarn soon – I can’t say enough good things about it! This particular case wouldn’t be ideal for circulars, but I did see on their website that they have a case specially made to hold your collection of fixed circular needles. I totally get that concern though!

Thanks for the vote! And ooooo I love that idea of a comparison post! This month I’ve started reviewing a handful of yarn subscriptions, so I’ll see if we can do something along those lines! Thanks for the suggestion!

I would love to see what the skill builder box contains or even another box of the fan favorites. I’m also curious if the non-sock specific boxes will periodically contain sock or fingering weight yarns.